


But What We Have is So New.

by kotabear24



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Army, Alternate Universe - Military, M/M, War, War in Afghanistan, deployments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 17:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1949589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kotabear24/pseuds/kotabear24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Zayn meets Liam and then gets deployed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But What We Have is So New.

**Author's Note:**

> It's an old one - remember, that means I'm not updating it xx

The day Harry’s dad took Harry and Liam to the new gym on base, Liam met Zayn.

Liam was in the back, running on the treadmill, trying to beat his own time, when he looked in front of him. The back wall was mirrored, so Liam got a perfect look at everyone who walked in the door. 

The man walked in, wearing a gray shirt with bold, black letters spelling out ‘ARMY’ across the chest, and black shorts with ‘ARMY’ written on the bottom of the right leg. He had standard-issue trainers - he was wearing the exact same outfit Harry’s dad was wearing. 

Except this man was looking a lot more fit than Harry’s dad. Right as Liam reached to pause his run, the young man looked straight into the mirror and saw Liam gawking at him. Liam blushed, but the man _winked_ and smiled at him.

Liam stopped his run and got off the treadmill, walking over to where Harry was doing decline sit-ups. “Harry,” Liam whispered next to him.

“Forty-six, forty-seven…yeah? Forty-eight,” Harry panted.

“Who’s that guy over there?” Liam asked in a hushed voice. “The darker guy? He’s in the same outfit as your dad.”

“… _Fifty_ …shit. Who?” 

Liam jerked his chin to the man, who was now putting ear buds into his ears before he started his bike. “He’s in the same outfit as your dad,” Liam repeated. 

“No shit,” Harry snorted. “He’s in the army, just like my dad.” At Liam’s confused look, Harry added, “Everyone in the Army wears that when they need to record their workouts with their supervisors. It’s kind of like saying, ‘Look at me, boss-man, I’m working out like a good boy’.” Liam nodded. “But, he works in my dad’s shop. ‘S name’s Malik, I think. Zayn Malik. Few years older than me…so, a year less than a few years older than you.” Harry noticed the way Liam was staring and smirked. “Is Liam interested?”

Liam blushed. “Oh, shut it,” he said, but he had a small smile on. “I haven’t even met him.”

“Let’s change that,” Harry suggested, and before Liam actually found the words to protest, he was being dragged over to the bikes. 

Zayn looked up when he saw the two boys approaching and smiled, lifting his buds from his ears. “Vas happening, ‘Arry?” He greeted in a silly voice. Harry and Liam both laughed a little.

“How’s it going, mate?” Harry asked, shaking hands with the slightly older man. “This is my best mate, Liam. He’s in the gym for the first time,” Harry introduced casually.

Liam blushed and waved vaguely at Zayn, who seemed much more interested all of a sudden. “First time?” Liam nodded. “Well, then, I’m going to have to recommend the bikes. They’ve got _wonderful_ cushions for your nice arse and will only help accentuate the legs you’re showing off.”

Liam was turning a nasty shade of pink-purple, and Harry stepped in to save him. “He’s a bit shy,” Harry offered. “Once he gets used to you, he’ll never shut up.”

Zayn smiled and gently grabbed Liam’s hand, guiding him to the bike next to Zayn. Liam helped Zayn adjust the seat and straps on his feet as Harry walked back to the free weights, and once Liam started on his bike work out, had no problem chatting with the older lad. Zayn had asked for Liam’s number, and the lad had given it to the soldier with a flirtatious smile Harry had never seen, but liked. 

Harry smirked the entire drive back to his place.

 

\---

 

His name was Zayn Malik. His favorite color was blue, he didn’t have a lucky number (which Liam refused to accept and made it a mission to give Zayn the perfect lucky number), his birthday had just passed, making him twenty-one, and he had enlisted in the Army three years ago, when he turned eighteen. He’d joined because his family hadn’t had the money to send him to college, regardless of his good grades. His mum had died early on, and he was an only child. His father didn’t talk to him once he found out Zayn was gay. Zayn was anti-abortion, he loved Obama, but thought the whole ‘Obama believes in gay marriage’ was conveniently timed around the election. He thought chocolate was too sweet sometimes and would rather just have normal candies, although he rarely had either, because he stuck to an _insane_ diet to keep in pristine condition. He’d just become a corporal, which had no specific meaning to Liam, who hadn’t grown up in a military home, but Harry said it was good for someone Zayn’s age, so Liam answered enthusiastically about it. 

After a good month and a half of talking every day on the phone, two dates, and a few chaste kisses, Zayn wanted to spend a whole day with Liam. He would pick Liam up from his classes at uni on Friday and they would go away until Saturday evening. Liam agreed to the proposition and packed excitedly, calling Harry to share the joy. 

Friday, at noon, Liam stared hard at the clock from the back of his lecture hall. He couldn’t focus on his aerospace engineering class, try as he might. Thankfully, the professor dismissed the class and Liam practically ran out of the hall and to the main street, where he’d agreed to meet Zayn.

Zayn was there, waiting in his ’05 Celica, and he smiled when he saw Liam.

Zayn took Liam to lunch, to a movie, and to the wilderness, where they would camp for the night. It seemed like a lot of effort for one night to Liam, but he was happy enough to spend time watching Zayn put the tent - it involved Zayn bending over to fit the poles together a lot. Zayn grilled Liam a burger and grilled a chicken sandwich for himself, and the two ate in easy silence, free hands intertwined. 

Liam was pretty sure this was what love felt like - but of course, Harry was right: it was too soon for Liam to tell Zayn he loved him. Zayn was older, more experienced, and probably didn’t -

“I think I love you,” Zayn whispered suddenly.

“I - what?” Liam asked, bewildered. Had Zayn just heard the mental conversation Liam was having with himself??

“I said I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, Liam.”

Liam said nothing, but smiled and leaned in to kiss Zayn gently. It started out gentle enough, but soon it became a little more passionate, and Liam ended up laying on his back against the blow-up mattress Zayn had supplied for them. Zayn broke the kiss and sat up a bit, looking down at Liam. “Are you not ready to say it yet?” Zayn asked, brows furrowed.

Liam stared happily up at Zayn before he realized what the older man had said. “Wh- oh, shit,” Liam swore, laughing. “I think I forgot to tell you - yeah, I love you, too.”

The look on Zayn’s face was a mix of exasperated humor, gentle adoration, and relief. He laid back down on top of Liam, caressing the younger boy’s face and body gently, placing kisses along the lines of Liam’s skin. They lay together in silence, cuddling and kissing, for nearly three hours, and before Liam nodded off to sleep, Zayn confessed. 

“I’m being deployed to Afghanistan in two weeks.” 

That’s it. He just whispered it in the darkness, but suddenly it was so quiet, it seemed as if Zayn could have shouted it.

Liam’s eyes snapped back open and he looked at Zayn with an unreadable expression. “’Scuse me?” He asked calmly.

Zayn squeezed his eyes shut and nodded, repeating. “I’m being deployed, in two weeks. Back to Afghanistan. They need me for another tour.”

Liam stayed quiet. Mostly because his voice would break if he spoke, but also because he didn’t know what he wanted to say. There were so many things running through his head. 

Zayn seemed to know it all, and answered every question Liam was now discovering. “That’s why I brought you out here. I wanted you to have one great night with me before I left, in case - in case we don’t get another night together.” Liam now squeezed his eyes shut and made a pained noise from the back of his throat, but Zayn kept answering the questions on Liam’s mind. “I’ll be gone for a year, limited internet, no phone of course…but I can write letters. …I want you to wait for me. But I understand if you don’t.”

Zayn sighed a shaky breath, and addressed Liam. “Thing is, I don’t have anyone to write letters to. I only just moved here a few months ago, and I don’t have friends - other than you and Harry. You know I - I don’t have a family. I want to wait for letters from you, and pictures of you and Harry and whoever else, just you _living_. I…I want you to be my escape when I’m over there.”

Liam finally spoke up, answering the one question Zayn hadn’t addressed yet. “You’ll…you’ll _kill_ people? Over there?”

Zayn froze, looking seriously at Liam. “Yes, Liam,” he answered slowly, willing him to absorb the truth. “I will kill people in Afghanistan. And I’ve killed people before, too.” Zayn was terrified of this information, but knew Liam deserved the truth.

To his amazement, Liam surged up and hugged Zayn tight, holding Zayn’s head to his heart. “My baby,” Liam whispered tightly, “You’ve had to kill people, oh, my baby. Shhh,” he soothed. “It’s alright, it’s okay. You can do this, Zayn. I’ll write to you all the time and I’ll send pictures. I’ll wait for you. Just because you have to kill people, doesn’t make me love you any less.” Liam vowed bravely, wondering if the words were true. He supposed they were. So, Zayn’d killed people. He was still the same person. He was still gay, still loved Obama, still hated abortion, still loved blue…Liam loved _that_ Zayn. “I’ll wait for you,” Liam repeated.

Zayn wrapped his arms around Liam, too, and kissed every inch he could reach. “I love you, Liam,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” Liam reassured him.

They held each other throughout the night, whispering and kissing, but not sleeping at all. Saturday they spent the whole day together again, clinging to each other and not leaving hardly at all.

Sunday came around, and as Liam lay in Zayn’s bed while Zayn prepared for the next morning at work, he suggested to Harry, “Maybe you should talk to Harry. I’m sure he knows about deployments; maybe you could even talk to his mum about being the MILSO of the deployed. The ins and outs. It’ll help you to have a support system; I don’t want you doing this alone, baby.”

Liam wasn’t sure of half of what Zayn had just said, but he promised Zayn he’d talk to Harry about it.

 

\---

 

Liam sat in the chair of Terminal E, holding tightly to Zayn’s hand. 

_“When his flight is called, they’ll stand up as one,” Harry’s mum had explained the day before. “You can’t stop him from leaving. Don’t make a scene. You’re a MILSO now; you need to act with the dignity of one. You can cry, but you need to be silent until he’s gone. Then, let it all out. But he can’t go to war worrying about you. He’ll get himself killed.” Anne’s voice was a little shaky when she said the last bit, but she was matter-of-fact, the way Liam had needed._

“Flight 207, boarding now.” The voice came over the intercom, and Liam heard it echo through the airport. Tears immediately flew down his cheeks.

Zayn stood up, and so did the rest of his troop. They stood tall, proud, and strong, and Liam stood with them, holding Zayn’s bag. After a few seconds, Zayn leaned and kissed Liam passionately, feeling Liam’s tears stain his face. A tight hug, a kiss to the cheek, and Zayn took his bag from Liam’s hands gently. “Wait for me,” he begged in a hoarse whisper before turning away.

“I will,” Liam whispered, more to himself than anyone else. The tears streamed down his face as he watched Zayn walk away, his uniform crisp and back in hand.

Once the entire group of soldiers were out of sight, and the door was sealed, Liam sank to a chair and cried in earnest, hoping to hell Zayn would come back alive.

Strong arms wrapped around his neck, and for a wild second, Liam thought Zayn had come back, but when he looked up, Liam saw Harry with a frown and Harry’s mum with a sympathetic smile. Liam tugged Harry closer to him and cried hard on his best mate’s shoulder, blunt fingernails biting into his mate’s skin. Harry didn’t object; he’d been through enough dangerous deployments to know how painful the airport scene was.

“Please tell me he’s going to come back,” Liam begged. “Harry, tell me he’s going to be okay.”

Harry rocked Liam back and forth. “My dad taught him,” Harry said simply. “He’ll be fine.” It was this easy, simple reassurance Liam needed, and together the three stood, Liam pointlessly wiping his still-leaking face, and left the airport.

When he got home, Liam sat down at his desk and began writing his first letter. He wrote one every day for the entire year, and Zayn got them all, writing back in what little time he could. Liam waited for Zayn.


End file.
